Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue on “Textiles 4.0: advanced materials and processing technologies” in Materials.

Advances in materials and manufacturing techniques are enabling the development of a new generation of high-performance textile-based products for a range of industries, from apparel to aerospace. Key enabling technologies are additive manufacturing and the use of robotics in weaving, fibre placement, and knitting, which allow free-form and bespoke multi-material structures to be fabricated, unhindered by the limitations of traditional approaches. This may potentially allow the fabrication of complex multi-functional textile-based structures in a single product, transforming design and manufacturing processes. Furthermore, this also opens up new application areas in smart, responsive, and adaptive textiles that can communicate with users and transform using a specific stimulus. However, significant limitations remain, and many aspects are still in the preliminary stages of development. Additive manufacturing and advanced materials have been utilised in the fashion industry, however, much of this remains at the conceptual or demonstrative phase rather than mass adoption, due to the inadequate quality and feel of the textile. Additionally, concerns regarding the sustainability of the vast textile apparel industry have led to a significant rethink of the material inputs and finishing agents used in the textile industry. This has led to new sustainable and environmentally friendly materials being explored and implemented in supply chains.

This Special Issue aims to highlight and collect the most recent developments and trends in the field of advanced 3D textiles. This includes novel manufacturing processes (e.g., 3D printing, robotics, and weaving), advanced materials (e.g., nanocomposites, multi-functional, bioactive, electroactive, sustainable, adaptive and responsive), and new application areas. Original research and state of the art reviews in this field are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Paulo J. Bártolo
Dr. Cian Vyas
Dr. Miriam Ribul
Prof. Dr. Prasad Potluri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2300 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• additive manufacturing
• robotic weaving and knitting
• electrospinning, melt spinning, and blow spinning
• advanced materials
• sustainability and circular economy
• novel applications